Cuts to council funding

Scottish Government cuts in funding to council budget is equivalent to £116 per head in the Scottish Borders, according to analysis commissioned by Scottish Labour.

The party claims that the Scottish Government grant to Scottish Borders Council has been cut in real terms from £1,886 per person in 2013/14 to £1,770 per person in 2018/19.

South Scotland Labour MSP Colin Smyth believes that the figures, provided by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), show the price of austerity for individuals across the region.

Commenting on the figures, Mr Smyth said, “These stark figures reveal the cost of cuts in funding to councils by the SNP.

“In real terms that funding has fallen across Ayrshire over the past five years. Local people will rightly feel aggrieved that although they are paying more council tax this has purely been to cushion the massive cuts over the last two years, not to increase overall spending on local services because of the SNP Government’s funding cuts.

“With such savage cuts from the Government its little wonder that more and more local lifeline services are having to be axed.

“In this year’s Scottish budget Labour would have used the tax powers of the Scottish Parliament to end austerity and invest in our lifeline services for the many not the few.”